Cable attachment and carrier



June 24, 1958 G. D. LoDvlcK ET AL 2,840,008

CABLE: ATTACHMENT AND CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 17, 1955 KM CCJ C www n my@ N mw www W A Wm W p.. .IE/ y A w@ wm am June 24, 1958 G.D. LoDvlcK ET A1.

CABLE ATTACHMENT AND CARRIER Filed June 17, 1955 2f, 4 l e Zb 26a,

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS 650265 D. GDV/CK tf1/4475 L. MART/@NOM lPatented June 24;,v 19578 United States Patent() This invention relatesgenerally to cable attachments and carriers and moreparticularly tocable attachments and carriers suitable for use on ski lifts of thechair type.

In cable attachments and carriers such as have been used on ski lifts ofthe chair type, it has been common to attach the carrier for the chairdirectly to the cable.

v 2l v The middle section 16a of sleeve 16 is provided with a bushingseat 21 and the tapered end sectionsr16a and 16b are provided with aplurality of grooves 22. A

In xing sleeve'16 to the wire rope 12, the half sections of the sleevemay trst be vulcanized to the vwire rope by suitable cement. The halfsections of the sleeve are securely fastened to thewire ropey 12 bysuitable clamping means 23 mounted in grooves 22.' One type of clampingmeans found to be particularly satisfactory is aclamp manufactured bythe Punch-LokCompany, of 321 No. Justine St., Chicago, Illinois.Stainless steel strapping is used to prevent rusting. Clamps of thistype can be speedily applied and removed by use of simple tools.

It will be noted that the depth of the grooves 22 is such that when theclamping means 23 is in place it i's This type of attachmentlhasmanyundesirable features,

particularly in that swinging of the chair would continuouslyftwist thecable and cause undue wear to the cable. In addition cable attachmentsandA carriers of this type have been very dilcult to repair and replace.l

In general, it s an object of the present invention to provide a cableattachment and a carrier which is particularly useful for the purposereferred to above.

Another object ofthe invention is to provide a cable attachment andcarrier of the above character in which the carrier or hanger may rotatefreely with respect to the cable without wearing the cable and in whichthe freedom of rotation can be adjusted.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cable attachmentand-carrier ofthe above ycharacter which can be expeditiously applied tothe cable and easilyV repaired or removed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cable attachment ofthe above character in which a continuous sleeve of resilient materialis used toY prevent wear to the cable.

Additional objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription in which the preferred embodiment of the invention has beenset-forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a plan view showing a cable attachment and carrierincorporating the present invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional View taken along the line 2-2of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure l.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an isometric view of a half section of the bushing utilizedin our invention.

The embodiment of our invention shown in the draw ing consists of asleeve assembly 11 mounted on a suitable cable 12 such as stranded Wirerope, and a hanger assembly 13 rotatably mounted on the sleeve assembly.The sleeve assembly consists of a split sleeve 16 `formed of two equalhalves each having a middle section 16a and tapered end sections 16b and16C. The sleeve 16 can be formed of any suitable resilient material suchas neoprene and may be provided with reinforcing material moldedintegral with the sleeve. In this instance we have shown several layersof synthetic reinforcing material 17, which may be of any suitablematerial such as nylon fabric, imbedded in the molded neoprene.

still within the contour of the sleeve and will not come in contact withthe sheave or similar device over which the cable or wire rope 12 isadapted to ride.l

A bushing 26, formed of two identical halves 26a| and 26b made of anysuitable material such as phosphor bronze, is mounted inthe bushing seat21. Half section 26a is shown in- Figure 6. Each bushing section isprovided with tlanged ends 27 and a pair of grooves 28. The innersurface ofpeach bushing section is provided with a raised portion 29which extends longitudinally of the bushing section and engages theresilient bushing seat V21. The corners of the bushing sections engagingthe sleeve 16 have been rounded to reducethe shearing stresses on thesleeve.

The bushing sections are fixed within bushing seat 21 by clamping means31 mounted in grooves 28. These clamping means may also be ofanysuitable type such as the clamps previously described. They bushinglsections are so dimensioned that .when they are placed on bushing seat21 there are small clearances between the adjacent side edges of thesame.V Clamping means 31 presses the bushing sections snugly into seat21 by removing the clearances between the bushing sections.` At

the same time the raised portions 29 are pressedrinto the resilientmaterial of the seat 21 and provideadditional to the sleeve. i Y

The hanger assembly 13 -is rotatably mounted on bushing 26j and consistsof two sections 33 and 34. Both sections are provided with grooves36which Alie adjacent the grooves 28 in bushing 26 to give additionalclearance for clamping means 31. Section 34 is y clamped to section 33by suitable fastening means such as thecarriage bolt assemblies 37. Byinserting shims on the bolt assemblies between sections 33 and 34, it isapparent that it is possible to adjust the tightness of the connectionbetween the hanger assembly 13 and the bushing 26 and thus to adjust theease of rotation between the hanger assembly and the bushing.

A spindle 41 is provided on section 33 and serves as a mounting for theobject to be supported which in this instance has been shown to be alength of pipe 42 which may be' connected to a ski chair or the like.The pipe is journalled on spindle 41 by means of a bushing 43 and isheld in place by a nut 44 threaded onto the spindle.

If desired, suitable means may be provided for lubricating bushing 26such as fitting 46.

As shown particularly in Figure l, the contour of the sleeve assemblyand the hanger assembly 13 is such that the same will ride smoothly overa sheave 48 on which the cable is riding as shown in Figure 5. A sheaveof this type is described in our copending application Serial No.516,256, tiled lune 17, 1955.

Since the sleeve assembly, the bushing and the hanger assembly are insections, it is apparent that they may be "to the wire rope by theclamping i means previously described. VIt is also apparentl that theymay also be readily removed from the wire rope by merely cutting theclamping means. For example, it has been tliatit takes dess than fiveyminutes to secure acompletefassernblyto'fthe wire rope and less thanten minutes tcireplvace la -wornout assembly. f sleeve 16'iscontinuouson both sides of the hanger assembly and thus preventsthesleeve fromrseparating romth'e hanger assembly. The hanger assembly13 `can rotate rt-.lative-to'A the wirerope or cable 12 and henceprcventstwisting of the cable. The object carried by the hanger assembly13 can rotate on Vthe spindle of the hangerassembly*andfthereforeprevents undue stresses from b e'ing` transmitted to t `the hangerassembly. The ease of therotationloflthe hanger assembly with the cablecan be varied by adjustment of-bolts 37. l It has been found that thetapered ends of the sleeve 4L In an attachment and a carrier for Va wirerope, a two-part resilient sleeve embracing the wire rope, said sleevehaving a middle portion and tapered end portions, means for clamping thetapered end portions of said sleeve to said rope, a seat formed in themiddle portion of said sleeve, a two-section bushing engaging said seat,the bushing sections beingof such dimension that there are clearancesbetween the adjacent edges thereof, means for snugly clamping saidbushing sections into said seat wear-more rapidly than the otherportions of the sleeve. t

If they become too worn, the clamping means adjacent the lend can 4beremoved and the sleeve cut off adjacent the next clamping assemblywithout unduly affecting the smoothness ofinovement over the sheaves.This adds considerablyto the length of time which a sleeve can be `usedbefore it-mustbe replaced.

It is `apparent that we -have provided a cable attachment and carrierwhich is relatively simple in construction and which greatly facilitatesinstallation, maintenance and replacement. Itis readily adjusted to meetvarious requirements and is adapted for use on a wide variety ofinstallations.

We claim: A

l. in anlattachment and a carrier for a wire rope, a split resilientsleeve embracing the `wire rope, means for securing said sleeve to saidrope, a'seating surface intermediate the ends of the sleeve, a two-partrigid bushing engaging said seating surface, means for clamping saidbushing `to'sai'clsleeveto prevent rotation of said bushing relativetosaid sleeve, and a hanger assembly rotatably mountedon said bushing andadapted to support an object to be carried thereby.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein said hanger assem- `bly includesmembers embracing the bushing and adapted to frictionally engage ythebushing, and means engaging the members `for applying clamping pressureto the bushing for adjustingtheease of rotation of said hanger assemblywith respect to said bushing. 3. A device'as in claiml wherein saidhanger assembly includes a journalled connection with the object beingcarried, said journalled connection having an axis of rotationperpendicular to the axis of rotation of said hanger 'assembly withrespect to said bushing.

to remove said clearances to prevent rotation of said bushing relativeto said sleeve, and a two-part hanger assembly journalled on saidbushing and adapted to support an object to be carried thereby.

5. In an attachment and carrier for a wire rope, a twopart resilientsleeve embracing the wire rope, the portion of the resilient sleeveembracing the wire rope having a contour corresponding to the contourofthe wire rope, said sleeve having a middle portion and tapered endportions, a plurality of grooves formed in the tapered end portions ofsaidV sleeve, clamping means mounted in saidgrooves for fastening saidsleeves to said cable, said clamping means being 'within the contour ofsaid sleeve, a seat formed in the middle portion of said sleeve, atwo-part bushing engaging said seat, the parts being so dimensioned thatthere are clearances between the adjacent edges thereof, a plurality' ofgrooves in each of thev bushing parts, clamping `means mounted in saidgrooves in'said bushing parts for pressing `said bushing parts into saidseat to cause the' bushing parts to snugly engage the sleeve to preventthe rotation of said bushing parts relative to the sleeve, a hangerassembly rotatably mounted on said bushing and adapted to support anobject to be carried thereby, saidhanger assembly including membersembracing the bushing and adapted to frictionally engage the bushing,and means engaging the members for applying clamping pressure to thebushing for adjusting the ease of rotation of said hanger assembly withrespect tosaid bushing.

6. A device as in claim 5 wherein said hanger assembly includes' ajournalled connection with the object being supported, said journalledconnection having an axis of rotation at right angles to the axis ofrotation of said hanger assembly with respect torsaid bushing.

References Cited in the le of'this patent UNYITED STATESV PATENTS

